We all have our guilty pleasures, and one of mine is the British TV Comedy Are You Being Served? The premise is simple: on the first floor of the London department store Grace Brothers the ladies’ undergarments and gents’ ready-made suits departments share a space, and the employees in those departments manage to get in to different situations every week. The show is a bit silly, and I’ve yet to meet a British person that didn’t roll their eyes when I confessed my love of the show. But what can I say, I’ve been watching re-runs of this show for the past fifteen years on PBS and it’s like comfort food!

Hands down, the best part of the show is the distinctive theme song, where the lift operator sings out all of the departments on each floor to a groovy 70s bass line. Which leads us to the gift guide I’ve put together based on the theme song. There are three floors at Grace Brothers, so I’ve rounded up three days worth of ideas. Enjoy day one (the ground floor)!

My Thanksgiving was pretty low-key- as in “didn’t actually celebrate” low-key. I’ve been sick this week, and I just was too wiped out to even get off the couch. Brian made me a gluten free pizza I’d been saving in the freezer, and we caught up on our shows. I woke up this morning feeling better, and the sun was out. We were both feeling a bit stir-crazy, but we didn’t want to go anywhere near the shops. We ended up spending some time at Farrel-McWhirter Park here in Redmond. This park features awesome open fields, a small collection of farm animals, and easy trails through the woods.

Thanksgiving seems to represent not just the time of year we stop and say thanks, but also the last hurrah of fall. The day after Thanksgiving is the official start of the Christmas season in the States, and with it, color schemes of green and red, blue and white. Orange is a color that is usually thought of as wacky or silly, but is totally natural and appropriate in the fall. So, before we move into winter, one last look at orange:

The weather around Seattle has been wet, windy, and cold- par for the course this time of year, I know. But would you believe as a native Washingtonian I’m often stumped as to how to dress myself in the months between November and March? Rain boots are cute, but I don’t want to wear them all day long (and they aren’t very workplace appropriate). My trusty black North Face hooded shell keeps me dry, but we all know it isn’t very cute. I’ve put together an outfit that should keep anyone venturing outdoors warm and dry.

The Dandies and Quaintrelles fall Tweed Ride was this weekend, and I’ve been pouring over their Flickr album to soak up all of the goodness. Basically, folks show up on their bikes wearing creative tweed ensembles and ride around DC. I’d love to take part in this some day, or the Seersucker Social in the summer, which I blogged about here.

While there is a strong vintage vibe going on at the event, tweed is still a big part of today’s fashion. I’ve rounded up a few items:

This has got to be one of the easiest sewing projects I’ve ever done- probably because it involves no sewing at all! I was looking to update the look of our bed and add a bit of storage as well. I was inspired by Nick Olsen’s work featured in House Beautiful last August- the upholstered headboard and the tip on lifting up the bed, in particular. You can see how our bedroom looked previously here.

I slipcovered the headboard and footboard with canvas drop cloths I found at Home Depot. I bought two drop cloths- one for the head and foot of the bed, and one to make a bed skirt (not photographed). I cut the drop cloths in half, and wedged the fabric between the mattress and box spring for the bed skirt. I draped the fabric over the headboard and footboard, wrong side out, and pinned in place with safety pins. Then I flipped the covers inside out like a pillow case, and draped over the bed!